The more Tyreek Hill insists he is changing, the more he stays the same.
He was late for practice on Sunday. Even though timeliness is supposedly one of the key aspects of the culture change that the Dolphins swear they’re implementing this year.
In fairness, Omar Kelly of the Miami Herald explains that Tyreek wasn’t late for the actual start of practice. Kelly said Hill missed the team stretch, which is something he has (per Kelly) “rarely attended, and that includes his 2 1,700 yard seasons.”
Frankly, that observation from Omar was almost enough to get me to pass on pointing out Tyreek’s tardiness. But then I skimmed the transcript of his most recent press conference, from Friday, August 1.
A reporter asked this: “We’ve seen you make a considerate effort to be out here at the start of stretch. Is that intentional? Is that part of that same thing of holding yourself accountable?”
Said Hill, “Yeah, I think it’s very important because football is a team sport. I think whenever guys are able to see me come out here and stretch with them, it just keeps the engine rolling with the whole team. It is important. The one day I did miss, I was just dropping the kids off to the pool. Besides that, I’m out here every day, dawg.”
He wasn’t out there today, dawg.
And that has nothing to do with his ability to generate 1,700-yard seasons. It has everything to do with the Dolphins trying to become the kind of football team they desperately need to be.
Hill showing up late brings back into focus the core question of whether he has changed from the guy who, after a frustrating 2024 season, said he wants out of Miami. Ignore the Super Bowl radio-row apology tour. Watch his actions.
Beyond whether he’s showing up on time for the “very important” act of participating in the team stretch is whether he’ll act up if/when the Dolphins are 1-4 and/or he only got a handful of targets in a game during which he was, in his view, open on every play.
Once June 1 came and went, we wondered whether a team would make the Dolphins an offer for Hill. With the trade deadline now the Tuesday after Week 9, any early-season struggles by the Dolphins and/or discontent from Hill could become the two key ingredients for a true contender to try to make a trade.
If said contender believes the positive of Hill’s talent outweigh the negatives of, well, pretty much everything else.
